ever since we met (forever ago)
by Gryffindork101
Summary: As she leaves, all Ernie thinks is, "She's got a pretty smile."― Arabella Figg/Ernie Prang. Oneshot.


A/N: Written for CheekySlytherinLass' "_Write All The Ships_" challenge, number 10. Arabella Figg/Ernie Prang.

Dedicated to **_teddylupin-snape_**. Hope it's not too bad.

Eternal thanks to my beta, **_Michy Drarry Shipper_**.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

_ever since we met (forever ago)_

* * *

He first sees her by the Hogwarts Express.

She's standing with her parents, and another boy – her brother, he supposes. The boy carries a trunk and a toad and they look about his age, eleven.

But she is not carrying a trunk or a toad or even a ticket. Instead, she's glaring at her mother.

"Mother, why does Ben get to go to Hogwarts and I don't?!"

"How many times must I tell you, Arabella! You are a squib. You do not have magic, not like Benjamin or your Father and I." Her mother's voice is harsh, cold and exasperated, as if she's said this a thousand times. She probably has.

Arabella's eyes fall to the floor, on the brink of tears.

Somehow, he manages to inch away from his own parents and offer her the cloth from his pocket which his Father had always insisted that he put there.

A hankie, that's what his Father called it.

"Hello, I'm Ernie. Do you want a hankie?" Ernie asks, talking too quickly.

She takes the hankie, her fingers lightly grazing his.

"Thank you, Ernie. My name is Arabella," she says, sniffing slightly.

A whistle sounds.

"You'd better get going," she tells him.

He looks confused, "What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere."

"But – Hogwarts –" It hits her like the sparks that shot out of her brother's wand, that day in Diagon Alley. He must be like her. A squib, her mother had called it.

"You're – like me then." She doesn't want to say it. Her mother made the word sound like poison.

"Yes, I am." He shoves his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Arabella! Where are you?!" Her mother shouts.

"Well, goodbye then." She tries to offer him back his hankie.

He closes her fingers around the cloth. "Goodbye, I hope we meet again."

"Me too." Arabella grins.

As she leaves, all Ernie thinks is, "She's got a pretty smile."

* * *

The next day, he tries to write her a letter.

But he can't think of what to say.

Nothing really exciting ever happens to him.

In the end, he only writes:

_Dear Arabella,_

_Hello this is Ernie, the boy you met on the train platform._

_I do hope you don't think that I'm stalking you._

_Ernie_

He swallows his faith and releases the owl into the air.

* * *

He finds a reply the next morning.

_Dear Ernie,_

_I don't think you're stalking me._

_Whats your favourite fruit?_

_-Arabella_

* * *

They continue writing letters and by the next time they meet he knows that:

She loves peaches and tea, she doesn't like her Mother very much, she hates strawberries and she hates wearing her hair up.

And she knows:

He loves all food, his glasses are never clean and he wants to learn how to drive a Muggle car when he grows up.

* * *

When he notices her on the train platform, tries to talk to her, but her mother drags her away before he can get the chance.

* * *

The third time he sees her, she's gotten married, and it's not to him.

He tries to picture her husband, some man with a better job and more money and who'll give her a better life than he ever could.

He wants to be happy for her, for them.

But he can't be.

* * *

The fourth time he sees her is on the Knight Bus.

Arabella is dressed all in black.

Ernie knows what this means.

When they reach her house, Arabella asks, "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, that would be lovely."

* * *

She unlocks the door and one of her many cats winds it way around her ankle.

"Why so many?" Ernie wonders aloud.

"What can I say, I'm lonely these days."

He squeezes her hand reassuringly.

* * *

He chokes down his tea, because Arabella still can't cook.

He looks at the clock. "Well, I must be going."

"No. Don't go," Arabella whispers.

"I won't." He grabs her hand.

And suddenly, she's kissing him and the whole world fades away.

* * *

The last time they meet, the Second Wizarding War is upon them.

Somehow, they are still alive.

Until the night the Knight Bus crashes.

But when the bodies of Ernie Prang and Arabella Figg are found, their fingers are laced together.


End file.
